British imperialism carved its way through space: possessing and ordering territories across the globe. This spatial legacy is not a relic of the past, it lingers in the present and shapes the nature of postcolonial futures. Edge of Empire examines struggles over urban space in three contemporary First World cities in an attempt to map the real geographies of colonialism and postcolonialism. From London, the one-time heart of the empire, to Perth and Brisbane, scenes of Aboriginal claims for the sacred in the space of the modern city, Jacobs emphasises the global geography of the local and unravels the spatialised cultural politics of postcolonial processes. Edge of Empire forms the basis for understanding imperialism over space and time, and is a recognition of the unruly spatial politics of race and nation, nature and culture, past and present.